Martha Robertson fundraiser will go on

ITHACA — The Martha Robertson congressional campaign has no plans to cancel a Sept. 29 fundraiser featuring a controversial guest.

Peter Yarrow, of the folk-music group Peter, Paul and Mary, will headline the event, signing copies of a “Puff the Magic Dragon” book for major donors.

Yarrow, a Cornell graduate, was convicted in 1970 of taking “indecent liberties” with a 14-year-old girl, stemming from a 1969 incident in which he greeted the fan naked in his hotel room doorway, before making inappropriate advances to her. He was 31 at the time.

Yarrow served three months in prison. In 1981, he was pardoned by President Jimmy Carter.

George Koutsos, a spokesman for Martha Robertson — who is challenging U.S. Rep. Tom Reed next year for the 23rd congressional district seat, said the campaign wasn’t aware of Yarrow’s history until questioned about it Thursday by The Buffalo News.

“(We) honestly didn’t know about it,” he said.

Koutsos said there were no plans at this point to cancel the event or Yarrow’s appearance.

Ian Prior, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, which promotes Republican candidates for the House, said the decision shows a lack of judgment on Robertson’s part.

“The fact that Martha Robertson would bring in a convicted child molester to headline her fundraiser shows just how different her values are from those of hard working southern New York families,” Prior said in a statement. “Robertson owes voters an explanation as to why she doesn’t have the character or moral compass to cancel a campaign event with someone who molested a 14-year old girl.”

Yarrow, commenting on his conviction, has previously said: “It was an era of real indiscretion and mistakes by categorically male performers. I was one of them. I got nailed. I was wrong. I’m sorry for it.”

In recent years, Yarrow has created a school anti-bullying program, Operation Respect, and has both donated to and aided in fundraising for several Democratic candidates.

According to the Buffalo News report, a 2004 fundraiser for Rep. Martin Frost, D-Texas, was canceled after his Republican opponent, Pete Sessions, raised the issue of Yarrow’s past. Sessions went on to win that race.